Delicious banana cake

I had a vegan friend visiting a couple of days ago and wanted to make something nice we could have for a snack. I didn’t really fancy baking a whole cake so instead I just made two individual small cakes in small spring-form pans. I converted a banana cake recipe from Delicieux, which is a favorite of mine, to bake with dextrose to make it free of processed fructose and swapped hens’ eggs for flax seed ‘eggs’. The vegan versions did sink a little bit in the middle, but the taste was still as delicious as usual. Actually, I made 3 batches the same day to get it right. The first one, I have to admit, didn’t sink a ‘little’. It rose beautifully and then sank in the middle all the way to the bottom! But, as they say, practice makes champions.

Make the flax seed eggs by measuring off the whole flax seed (around 4 spoonfuls – this is an esitamate as it depends on how finely you grind the seed). Grind or process the seeds as finely as you can. Then measure up 2 tbsp ground flax seed and add it to a small bowl with the water. Stir thoroughly and the pop in the fridge to set into a gooey mix for at least 15 min while you measure of all the rest of the ingredients (don’t skip this step).

Measure up the remaining ingredients into a bowl and then add your flax seed egg (or hens eggs). Give it a good stir and then pour into your two spring forms. Pop them in the oven and make a little tent of foil to cover with (make sure you make room for the cakes to rise or they will stick to the foil). Bake for 1 hour (will differ from oven to oven).

When the time is up take out the cakes and leave for a couple of minutes to cool, then carefully pop the springforms open, put them aside and leave the cakes on the bottom plates to cool completely. Then serve as it is or with your favorite toppings. I am slightly addicted to chocolate peanut butter spread at the moment or you could add fresh homemade Nutella (add a bit of peanut oil and mix to make it runnier if you wish).

If you want to make a full sized cake, use the following ingredients and the same directions as above:

4 tbsp of whole flax seeds + 12 tbsp water (or 6 eggs)

3 ripe bananas

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp soda bicarbonate

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 nutmeg

250 grams of ground almonds

220 grams of dextrose (glucose) powder.

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Comments

These look amazing! Love the fact that you’ve converted this recipe to be so incredibly healthy, and yet the finished cakes look incredibly indulgent. Perfect treats for your friend’s visit! Thanks for sharing the recipe. Love the idea of icing it with homemade Nutella. Awesome!

Thanks Laura! I wouldn’t be able to cope with being dairy, gluten and sugar free if I felt like I couldn’t indulge anymore 🙂 This way I can be healthy, not feel bad about what I eat and dig into delicious food still.

Love the idea of flaxseed eggs! I’ve never heard of this before and I’m always looking for new ways to substitute eggs. Would ground linseed work in the same way, and allow me to skip the grinding step??
Mel 🙂

Hi Mel – thanks for asking, I should have added that in (will do later today). Flaxseed and linseed are the same thing and they come in golden (light beige) and dark versions. Other than giving it a different colour there is no difference. I actually used pre-ground (shop bought) seeds for the first batch and that collapsed completely (still tasted good though). I then tried again with pre-ground and put it in the fridge to set (I googled it) – this time it turned out almost right (see top right photo, slightly sunken). Then I went online again (!) and read about the seeds oxidising and going rancid quickly, therefore, they recommended only using freshly ground seeds and storing them in the fridge (or grind a whole lot and store in the freezer). I did that (i didn’t want to drag out my food processor and don’t have a grinder so i just used my stick blender as i was just making a small amount) and then it turned out almost like the regular chicken egg version, just a little bit denser. So, apologies for the long answer, but, yes you can do it with pre-ground linseed, but you will get a better result by grinding whole seeds fresh 🙂 Caroline

Thank you for writing such a detailed reply, that’s really interesting about the fast degeneration of the whole seed!

I think I will give this recipe a go with the ready-ground linseed that I already have, and if I like it (which I’m sure I will!) I will buy some whole seeds to make a larger batch next time and try to share them 😉

Sorry I didn’t see that (but now I hit the follow button so I don’t miss out). Great post! I knew that flaxseeds were good, but not THAT good – I might have to eat some more 🙂 (I could easy add some to my granola). I didn’t know about the rancid thing before I baked this cake (i thought it was just supposed to taste like that, and who knows how long it’s been sitting on a supermarket shelf for), now I’m a DIY convert and any seeds are stored in the fridge or freezer 😉 (it’s the same with ground almond). Absolutely, do please let me know how you go if you try it. Cx

Tomorrow I’m recording a new YouTube recipe video so look out for that (it will be vegan-friendly!). And if there’s anything you’re interested to know more about I’m always looking for inspiration for my blog 🙂
Mel x